All Dark
by Crocguy93
Summary: Orihime is trapt in a dark and mysterious place, there she finds a boy who looks similar to a certain Espada from her past. Can she save him this time?


**Hello everyone. This is my first ever Fanfic written for this site. It's a one-shot, and I hope you all enjoy it. So leave me some reviews and I'd surely appreciate it, thank you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.**

~All Dark~

Orihime found herself in a dark room; one which did not possess any light, and she had trouble making her way through her mysterious surroundings.

She found one of the room's walls and placed her hands on it in order to find a door or window that she could use. It must have been raining outside because she could hear the crack of thunder.

But it made little difference since there were no apparent windows to see any lightning.

After continuing to shuffle along the floor with her hands on the wall, she finally felt a doorknob and turned it. Orihime steadied her breathing and slowly pushed the door open. The first thing she noticed were windows along the walls of the adjacent room; lightning flashed which gave her some illumination, and she could start to make out her new surroundings.

After stepping forward inside the room, she heard a small sound.

The Auburn-haired girl couldn't quite make it out, because the thunder was muffling the noise. But as she got closer, she could make out the distinctive sound of whimpering.

Orihime's kind nature took over, and she continued to step further into the room; her heart heavy with concern.

"Hello…..is somebody there?"

No one answered her, but the soft whimpering sound continued.

As Orihime came up to what she believed to be the end of the room, lightning suddenly flashed, violently and continuously, showing her that the source of the noise was a young boy; huddled in a corner…crying.

After the lighting flashes receded, she slowly approached the boy; her heart immediately began to ache for him.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" Again there was no answer. The boy continued to cry, as if he hadn't heard her.

By know Orihime's vision had adjusted to the dark, and she could make out some features of this sad and possibly hurt little boy. He seemed so small and fragile, his body shook with each sob that came out of him. Orihime could tell that he had dark hair, but she couldn't make out any other features since his back was turned towards her.

When she got close enough, the teenage girl knelt down behind the boy and asked again, "are you okay?"

His whimpering finally stopped, and the boy slowly turned around to face the girl who had been calling him. As he turned his head and looked at her, Orihime's eyes widened, and she couldn't help but gasp. The boy had black hair and pale skin with tears running down his face, but what she recognized immediately were his eyes.

Those emerald eyes…..

Those emerald eyes that she knew, that she loved, that she had longed for since she saw them disappear before her.

She knew in her heart, in her soul who this boy was. Even if she couldn't explain how or why he was so…..small, there was no denying it.

_Ulquiorra_

A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, what should she say? Should she ask him how he got this way, or where this place was, or why she was here. But she couldn't say anything. She just kept staring at him as he sniffled and whimpered; his tears seemed to have left permanent marks on his face, not too dissimilar from those teal colored markings that she remembered him having. But these were not his old markings, no, they looked more like scars.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to her, Orihime choked out the only thing that she could think of, "Are you alright?"

The boy, Ulquiorra, shook slightly before he wiped away some of his tears, and in a soft and frightened voice he said…..

"Everyone is a-afraid of me."

He then turned his body so that he was facing her entirely. The young Ulquiorra held out his right hand, almost as if he was trying to reach out to the girl sitting across from him, and then he asked with tears still slowly falling, "Are you afraid of me?"

She recognized this scene, because she had lived it back in Hueco Mundo. When he reached out to her, that empty look in his eyes; she had tried to reach for him, but failed.

Orihime was determined not to fail him again, and without having to think about her next words, she answered Ulquiorra with as much strength in her voice as she could muster.

"I am not afraid of you."

She then carefully brought her own hand up and reached back to him. Her hand touched his smaller one, and her fingers wrapped around his in a loving way.

A sense of relief washed over Orihime; the boy stopped crying, and she felt that everything would be okay. She smiled at him, as if she were trying to pour all her love and warmth into his being and for a split second, his mouth began to curl upwards.

Then, she felt his hand dissolve in hers.

Ash and dust swirled around her fingers as the rest of his arm disintegrated and blew away. The boy started to scream and cry, she knew he was in pain, and her heart nearly shattered hearing his cries of agony.

Orihime jumped forward and wrapped her arms around the young looking Ulquiorra; she didn't know what else to do.

As both of his arms turned to ash, Orihime cradled the boy closer to her, and his screams grew even louder. "Please, I don't want to go back to the darkness! Please don't let me go!"

Her own tears fell as she nearly screamed back, "NO! I won't let you go Ulquiorra!"

His legs disappeared next, and she could she see his torso start to go.

"PLEASE DON'T TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME! NOT AGAIN!" She screamed.

The boy let out another shriek as Orihime's arms collapsed, holding nothing but ash. The last thing she saw, were his eyes, and even they disappeared, leaving her with nothing but tears and dust.

She started to scream frantically, clawing at the ground where he once sat.

"No! Please give him back. No."

"Ulquiorra! ULQUIORRA!"

Suddenly, she felt herself being shaken. Orihime awoke covered in sweat, she struggled to calm her breathing. The light was on and in bed next to her, was Ulquiorra Cifer, the former 4th Espada.

"Woman calm down. You were screaming my name." He said to her stoically.

After catching her breath Orihime finally replied, "I-I was?"

"Yes you were." His emerald eyes bore into her grey ones; a quizzical look on his face. "What terrified you so much that you had to scream my name in your rest?"

_It was just a dream_. She thought to herself; she finally started to calm down as reality came back to her.

"Woman, answer me when my question concerns your health."

She just looked into his eyes, those beautiful eyes, and she cupped his face in her hand which surprised him. He waited for her to answer him as she continued to admire his face. Her hand travelled down to the base of his neck where his Hollow hole used to be; now it was only flesh.

She looked back up at him and said, "It was only a dream. But I'm awake now, and you're here with me, and that's all that matters." He merely stared down at her; that smile on her face. He understood now that the emotion written on her face was relief, so he decided not to pressure her for details.

"I see."

No longer afraid, Orihime leaned up and kissed Ulquiorra; he then turned the light off and held the woman in his arms, waiting for her to fall back asleep.

_It's no longer dark...and I can see now. As long as I'm with you, I can see._


End file.
